Three Haiku
translated from the Japanese by Kimiko Hahn
[In the next room an anchor reports on border crossings]
this and that - drifts to mind - must be the sakura
[In the next room an anchor reports on increased bombing]
along this road - on which no one sets out - autumn’s foot fall
[In the next room an anchor reports on recent banned books]
Futami Bay where - a traveller severs clam from shell - I cut out into fall
さまざまの事おもひ出す櫻かな
samazama no koto omoidasu sakura kana
この道や 行く人なしに 秋のくれ
kono michi ya iku hito nashi ni ai no kure
蛤のふたみにわかれ行秋ぞ
hamaguri no futami ni wakare yuku aki zo
Copyright © 2026 by Kimiko Hahn. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 28, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
“Two things about my translations: first, because haiku, senryū, and tanka are not lineated, I am interested in adhering to the original convention and not a kind of Westernized versification. Thus, the one-line rendering. Second, some haiku and tanka have ‘headnotes’ (different from titles) that give context to the poem. I decided to be mischievous and use this convention in my position as the translator.”
—Kimiko Hahn
Matsuo Bashō
Matsuo Bashō, originally Matsuō Chuemon Munefusa, was born in Ueno, Japan, in 1644 to a family of samurai descent. Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age by Todo Yoshitada, for whom he worked and shared a mutual love of renga. After Yoshitada’s death in 1666, Bashō moved to the capital city of Edo (now Tokyo), where he studied poetry and gained recognition for his use of the haiku form.